(almost) Met Michael yesterday!

It's been a while since I last posted on these forums... and the last time was during the whole Blu-ray vs HD DVD war.
Anywho...

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be able to go to a free showing of Transformers 2 at the Udvar Hazy Museum IMAX theater. My wife has a friend at work who knows someone that was trying to get into another showing of the movie that sold out. They were then given a flier about this showing with an RSVP required. Needless to say, word got around, and we got free tickets. Granted the seats were god awful! i HATE watching IMAC screens when not only are you so close to the screen you could spit on it, but you also have to turn your head to see any kind of action. Most of the action is lost on you cause you can't see it all at once. It was a major MAJOR headache and neck ache and if ANYONE tells you that there are no bad seats in an IMAX theater, shoot them for me. please.
ANYWHO....

I was in the second row, and Michael Bay himself was at the theater. It was very close to him as he was making a short and nice speech about his ups and downs in all his film making. I forgot my camera, so my dinky iPhone camera was all I had. Needless to say it was a crappy picture, but we did get most of the speech recorded (which I will not share so don't ask). It was cool to see him there, but alas, I had the cheap white colored ticket. The problem with these was that there are not only few good seats (quickly taken up by everyone else in front of me), but also a you don't have access to the museum after the movie, which is where Michael was hanging out. I brought my Blu-ray copy of the movie for him to sign, as I have been a supporter of Blu-ray and of his movies for a long time and was excited to have this opportunity.

Well... after the movie, there was a huge crowd surrounding Michael, and I joined in the fray. I was trying to get close to him and somehow got separated from my wife in the process. I was ready to hand him my copy of the movie to sign, when he turned from me (very close now, I could almost shake his hand) and walked away. I tried to keep up to hand him my copy of the movie, but he walked right into the roped off section for the VIP ticket holders, not the white ticket holders. DAMN! I was so close!!! I was trying really hard to get his attention without looking like either an idiot or a fanboy (which I am both at times :P).

Luckily, the friend of my wife who told her about the tickets was there, and was EXTREMELY lucky to get red VIP tickets (they were waiting outside in line behind us and they ran out of white tickets and started giving out the rest of the red ones... dammit!). Well, ANYWHO.... her husband and her were there, and they agreed to go in with my copy of the movie and see if they could get it signed for me. Now there are no guarantees it will happen, and i won't know till Monday! But at least I got to see Michael Bay up close and get a (crappy) picture or two.

So all in all... I got free tickets to see a new MB movie in IMAX, I got to see the man himself, and I have a (slim) chance to get his signature on my Blu-ray copy of the movie. Despite the headache and neck pain and bad seats and such, all-in-all it was a good night.